You know who else is too good for the Republican National Convention? George W. Bush. You might remember him from such productions as, What Weapons of Mass Destruction? and Oh, Were You Using New Orleans, America? Sorry My Bad. His minor hits include Dude Where’s Bin Laden and My War Killing Your Kid is No Excuse to Be Rude.

That man is too good for a Republican National Convention at which Donald Trump will be nominated.

John McCain is too good for a Republican National Convention at which Donald Trump will be nominated. John McCain has had many sympathetic articles written about the terrible position in which Donald Trump’s existence puts him, as if John McCain is a powerless creature, like say an undocumented immigrant who might be deported if Donald Trump becomes president.

Nobody is in a more terrible position than John McCain, who has to worry about his image and other stuff that is not real, so John McCain has decided he’s too good for a Republican National Convention at which Donald Trump will be nominated.

(Donald Trump is not half as dumb as Sarah Palin, who sat back and let the McCain campaign blame her for their miserable, nasty, racist loss in 2008. Donald Trump’s Tweets generally make sense, especially when he’s shit-talking Republicans. Palin still can’t find a coherent thought with a searchlight and a posse.)

And Mitt Romney is too good for a Republican National Convention at which Donald Trump will be nominated. Mitt Romney is too good for the voters who genuflected when he rolled out Donald Trump’s endorsement four years ago, too good for the voters who tried to put him into office despite a nasty, racist, small-minded campaign based on the idea that America needed to be meaner to poor people. Mitt Romney, who no one liked but everyone supported because party loyalty and who else would line up to lose to Obama, has basically told all 58 million people who voted for him to fuck themselves.

(He said that during the campaign, too, but like, nicer.)

I swear, it becomes less of a mystery every day, the alienation and anger of the GOP base. If you did this to me, decided to skip the party I planned AFTER I printed your name on all the balloons, I’d set your gift table on fire. Upend the cake into the pool. The petting zoo would be profoundly unsafe.

I’d release some snakes. See how much fun the pony rides are THEN.

In the five days since Donald Trump’s last remaining rivals quit, it’s been amazing, watching the GOP turn its back on its own voters. They are publicly, loudly, emphatically declaring they are too good for their own voters, and it’s amazing to watch.

Look, Donald Trump should not be president and come November I’mma quit my job and follow Hillary’s campaign around in a panel van if it seems like that’s what’s necessary to keep this racist prick out of the White House. But Trump didn’t win the Republican nomination by cheating and he didn’t win by stuffing the ballot box and he didn’t sneak in the side entrance after paying off the parking attendants. He got where he is completely fairly, by getting the most votes out of anyone else during the Republican primaries the Republican party planned.

So for former presidents and former nominees for president of this party to come out and basically say they’re too good to associate with the person their voters picked, well, I’ve never seen such institutional loathing for the people who pay the institution’s bills, and I’m a Democrat.

Donald Trump has done nothing to these former presidents and nominees (other than call John McCain a pussy, which is what McCain let his party do to John Kerry for a year NO I’M NOT OVER IT) to excuse them throwing a temper tantrum like this.

Lots of other Republican senators and congressmen — are trying to get some political capital out of pretending to be above Trump. There’s some hay to be made there, given the gullibility of our political press, the willingness to give Republicans politicians the benefit of the doubt when it comes to motives and meaning.

But presidents? Nominees? People for whom other people worked and voted and fought? They don’t get to turn their backs and pretend they have nothing to do with where the party is and who it’s with. They don’t get to be above it all. They benefitted for years from the votes of the people who voted for Trump and from their hard work and their loyalty.

They’re too good for their own people? What are they thinking? That the voters they trained to hold grudges close will forgive the Bushes, McCains and Romneys in an instant if Trump loses? HAHAHAHAHAHA. Those voters already hate McCain and Romney for being miserable losers, and the Bushes are making themselves more irrelevant by the hour. Those voters will not forget that their leaders abandoned them.

It’s why Trump got as far as he did in the first place.

A.

ps. Good for Bob Dole. A free lunch is a free lunch, especially when you’re NINETY FREAKING TWO. Don’t turn down food at that point. Get at the buffet table.

Is it me or has so much stupid shit been happening recently that it’s difficult to do anything anymore than shake your head? Because I don’t know about you but by the time I formulate a response that’s not, “I need to drink some wine and cuddle Claire” something even dumber than the last dumb thing has happened and at that point I just go hide under the bed.

“Our message is one of hope and aspiration,” Mr. Bush said. “It isn’t one of division and get in line and we’ll take care of you with free stuff. Our message is one that is uplifting — that says you can achieve earned success.”

While Mr. Bush has spoken often of broadening the party’s appeal, he has stumbled at times while attempting to deliver the message.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Bush, Kristy Campbell, noted that the candidate “talks constantly about the need for Republicans to reach out to all voters,” though she did not directly address the reference to “free stuff.”

“We will never be successful in elections without communicating that conservative principles and conservative policies are the only path to restoring the right to rise for every single American,” Ms. Campbell said.

I see. He was using language designed to reach out to black people. Because black people can’t hear what he’s saying. Black people are somehow just UNCLEAR on the Republican message. Since the savages know not of our Civilized White Ways, let us speak to them in a special voice, like maybe a couple of decibels louder than normal and really, really slow, so that they’ll smell what Jeb is cooking!

To me, “free stuff” wasn’t the offensive part of this comment. It was “earned success.”

Because: You have not earned any success you may already have. You have not built that. You have not won it on your own merits.

You’ve gotten it because of affirmative action, obvs. Or welfare. Probably Uncle Sam took care of you when your baby mama I can’t even do this anymore. Earned success. Motherfucking Jeb Bush, son of a president, brother of a president, is talking about earned success in running for president. You know, the next time he throws a fundraiser, somebody should just give him a condescending bullshit speech about selling some bling and pulling himself up by his bootstraps instead of relying on hardworking taxpayers.

We are ten years old. We are in fourth grade. We need new corduroys and school supplies.

Ten years ago this weekend, Holden and Tena and pie and I decided we'd had a stellar time guestblogging over at the Crack Den while Atrios was off, I dunno, becoming famous and respectable, and we'd set up shop here at this web site that I had that was basically some password-protected Buffy fanfiction and ranting about people who don't turn their radios down at the drive-thru window at Taco Bell.

Those were, of course, good and awful times. Awful: We didn't have to look far to chronicle the malfeasance of the Bush administration, gay people couldn't get married just about anywhere, John Kerry was about to lose the election, and there were perhaps a couple hundred liberal political blogs up against a mass media narrative dictating that the president was epic and everything was fine.

Good: The 2004 election felt like a big fat party a lot of the time, and a good fight the rest of the time, and there's nothing I love more than a fight that feels like a party. Dissent had begun to have a voice, however small. Plus, there were perhaps a couple hundred liberal political blogs, so we could basically love everyone in this bar.

(I basically still love everyone in this bar.)

I don't know what I expected to happen ten years from then. I didn't think about whether we'd still be here. I just thought that there was a here, and people seemed to like it, so we laid down some shag carpeting in the crack van and fueled that sucker up.

(That carpet smells like goat vomit now, TOMMY.)

In preparation for this glorious anniversary of ours, I've been putting together an anthology of the best and most favoritest posts we've done, and in doing so I've read basically all our archives going back to August 2004. We were not as good as I thought we were, but in some cases we were better, and we managed to do some real work at a time when everybody who writes here has a day job or two, or is looking for a day job or two, or is otherwise somehow in a position where it would be totally acceptable to curl up underneath the quilts and not come out.

I'm proud of what we've built and it would be nothing without all our readers who come here every day. I'm so grateful to all of you, and I hope you've found something of value here. If you have, I hope you'll contribute to the drive. We didn't do one last year, because I was distracted by twenty things including the baby, and this one's our tin anniversary. Hallmark suggests you give us a lunch box full of popcorn. The Paypal button up there might be easier.

In the coming year? I'm hoping this anthology finds a publisher home, and we will be moving to a newer, shinier, spiffier site that looks more like the Internet of this decade (minus the pop-up ads and frequent requests for customer feedback).

The junior Senator from Louisiana is back in the news this week. (No, not just because he gets name checked in stories about Mark Sanford’s comeback.) Bitter Vitter is doing what he does best, which is being a royal pain in the ass. This time it involves Gina McCarthy who has been nominated to run the EPA:

David Vitter seems to have set a new record.

Sen. Vitter, a Louisiana Republican with close ties to the gas and
oil industries, has already sent a whopping 653 questions to President
Obama’s nominee to take over the Environmental Protection Agency on a
wide range of regulatory topics (and her use of government email
accounts) ahead of her Thursday confirmation hearings, according to a
Democratic staffer directly involved in the confirmation process.

The nominee, Gina McCarthy, is being subjected to what amounts to a
record-shattering barrage of per-confirmation questions from Senate
Republicans who have, in all, already submitted more than 1,079 queries.

UPDATE: A Vitter spokesman got back to make two points:

1. Vitter’s staff calculates the total number of “real” — not counting one- or two-word follow-ups — in the 430 range.

2. The volume of questions, according to his staff, isn’t about
harassing the nominee. McCarthy deserves more questions because she’s
been an assistant administrator at the agency for several years and was
present for many of EPA’s most controversial decisions on emissions and
other matters. Previous nominees for the post simply didn’t have
comparable track records or paper trails, Vitter’s spokesman said.

As much as I hate quoting Tigerbeat on the Potomac (TM Charlie Pierce) they have the best snippet on Vitty Cent’s (TM Oyster) latest malakatude (TM Adrastos.) It’s not harassment? Really? How stupid do they think we are? Very stupid indeed.

Here’s my suggestion to Diaper Dave and his fellow oil company lackeys, they should fold their 1079 questions five ways and stick them where the moon don’t shine. Vitter is clearly familiar with his own rectal cavity since he’s a professional asshole whose head is eternally up his own ass.

Among the things Romney thinks might have actually changed the election
appears to be his own comments. He repeatedly referenced his own
“mistakes” in the CNN interview. He said he “regrets”
his comment about 47 percent of Americans refusing to take
responsibility for their lives. He said of Clint Eastwood’s empty-chair
moment, “Clint didn’t hurt my campaign, I hurt my campaign a couple times.” He said dealing with the press is hard. “Jokes, for instance, will get you in trouble,” Romney said. “Any time you’re trying to be funny.”

There’s nothing more pitiful than someone with no sense of humor who is convinced that they’re funny. Willard has a bad case of the inadvertent funnies, but when he tries cracking a joke it invariably falls flat. You know like the whole”I lost because of Hurricane Sandy thing.” He lost because he was a bad candidate with a bad message in a year when the polls were static. Delusions die hard.

I must admit to missing Willard even if he won’t go away. He’s like a long distance Margaret Dumont to my Groucho; only without the cigar, the grease paint mustache, or the mute, harp plucking, horn honking brother. Actually, it’s nothing like that but Willard *is* a great straight man and like the guy in a certain Warren Zevon song, his hair is perfect.

The junior Senator from Louisiana is back in the news this week. (No, not just because he gets name checked in stories about Mark Sanford’s comeback.) Bitter Vitter is doing what he does best, which is being a royal pain in the ass. This time it involvesGina McCarthy who has been nominated to run the EPA:

David Vitter seems to have set a new record.

Sen. Vitter, a Louisiana Republican with close ties to the gas and
oil industries, has already sent a whopping 653 questions to President
Obama’s nominee to take over the Environmental Protection Agency on a
wide range of regulatory topics (and her use of government email
accounts) ahead of her Thursday confirmation hearings, according to a
Democratic staffer directly involved in the confirmation process.

The nominee, Gina McCarthy, is being subjected to what amounts to a
record-shattering barrage of per-confirmation questions from Senate
Republicans who have, in all, already submitted more than 1,079 queries.

UPDATE: A Vitter spokesman got back to make two points:

1. Vitter’s staff calculates the total number of “real” — not counting one- or two-word follow-ups — in the 430 range.

2. The volume of questions, according to his staff, isn’t about
harassing the nominee. McCarthy deserves more questions because she’s
been an assistant administrator at the agency for several years and was
present for many of EPA’s most controversial decisions on emissions and
other matters. Previous nominees for the post simply didn’t have
comparable track records or paper trails, Vitter’s spokesman said.

As much as I hate quoting Tigerbeat on the Potomac (TM Charlie Pierce) they have the best snippet on Vitty Cent’s (TM Oyster) latest malakatude (TM Adrastos.) It’s not harassment? Really? How stupid do they think we are? Very stupid indeed.

Here’s my suggestion to Diaper Dave and his fellow oil company lackeys, they should fold their 1079 questions five ways and stick them where the moon don’t shine. Vitter is clearly familiar with his own rectal cavity since he’s a professional asshole whose head is eternally up his own ass.

Glenn believes that he can bring the heart and the spirit of Walt’s early Disneyland ideas into reality. Independence, USA wouldn’t be about rides and merchandise, but would be about community and freedom. The Marketplace would be a place where craftmen and artisan could open and run real small businesses and stores. The owners and tradesmen could hold apprenticeships and teach young people the skills and entrepreneurial spirit that has been lost in today’s entitlement state.

[snip]

Across the lake, there would be a church modelled after The Alamo which would act as a multi-denominational mission center. The town will also have a working ranch where visitors can learn how to farm and work the land.

Working this in reverse order, I don’t think people are prevented from setting up an agrarian Galt-paradise of their very own from a lack of knowledge about how to “work the land.” I think it has to do with how farming is a quick path to OMGBROKE.

Also, the church will be modelled after The Alamo? So Mexicans will invade it eventually? I’m okay with this.

ALSO I’m kind of having a hard time believing in the ability to build a whole new Galt’s Gulch theme park when Beck can’t even hire a copy editor for his own web site.

What rides would YOU like to see in this independent community paradise?

Glenn believes that he can bring the heart and the spirit of Walt’s early Disneyland ideas into reality. Independence, USA wouldn’t be about rides and merchandise, but would be about community and freedom. The Marketplace would be a place where craftmen and artisan could open and run real small businesses and stores. The owners and tradesmen could hold apprenticeships and teach young people the skills and entrepreneurial spirit that has been lost in today’s entitlement state.

[snip]

Across the lake, there would be a church modelled after The Alamo which would act as a multi-denominational mission center. The town will also have a working ranch where visitors can learn how to farm and work the land.

Working this in reverse order, I don’t think people are prevented from setting up an agrarian Galt-paradise of their very own from a lack of knowledge about how to “work the land.” I think it has to do with how farming is a quick path to OMGBROKE.

Also, the church will be modelled after The Alamo? So Mexicans will invade it eventually? I’m okay with this.

ALSO I’m kind of having a hard time believing in the ability to build a whole new Galt’s Gulch theme park when Beck can’t even hire a copy editor for his own web site.

What rides would YOU like to see in this independent community paradise?

I’m not entirely comfortable with the term “greatest generation” but sometimes it fits a member of that generation like a glove. Senator Daniel Inouye was such a man.He died today at the age of 88.

He was a bona fide war hero, a Medal of Honor winner who fought for our country in World War II despite the wartime hysteria that led to the internment of Japanese Americans. In his case, he partially fought *because* of the prejudice, to prove that Asians were every bit as patriotic as the slack jawed rednecks who made up the army in those days.

Inouye was a genuine pioneer: the first Congressman from Hawaii and the first Japanese American United States Senator. But unlike many other trailblazers, he was a calm and quiet man. I guess when you lose an arm in combat, very little else is going to rile you.

Not only are the members of Brokaw’s greatest generation dropping like flies, but the lions of the Senate are leaving us as well. If there is an after-life, I suspect Dan Inouye, Ted Kennedy, George McGovern, and Robert Byrd are swapping stories, counting votes, and lamenting what has become of their beloved Senate in the hands of pygmies like Mitch McConnell.

﻿﻿﻿During the 2002 debate over the Iraq war, Inouye made a rare Senate
floor speech – with no prepared remarks – in objection to President
Bush’s charge that Democrats weren’t concerned with national security.
The president had said that Senate Democrats’ failure to pass
legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security suggested they
were “more interested in special interests in Washington and not
interested in the security of the American people.”

“Certainly, I did not vote for him, but he is my president, and it
grieves me when my president makes statements that would divide this
nation,” Inouye said. “This is not a time for Democrats and Republicans
to say, ‘We got more medals than you, we’ve lost more limbs than you,
we’ve shed more blood than you.'”

“This is a time when we should be working together, debating this
issue,” he continued. “It is American to question the president. It is
American to debate this issue.”

I’m not entirely comfortable with the term “greatest generation” but sometimes it fits a member of that generation like a glove. Senator Daniel Inouye was such a man.He died today at the age of 88.

He was a bona fide war hero, a Medal of Honor winner who fought for our country in World War II despite the wartime hysteria that led to the internment of Japanese Americans. In his case, he partially fought *because* of the prejudice, to prove that Asians were every bit as patriotic as the slack jawed rednecks who made up the army in those days.

Inouye was a genuine pioneer: the first Congressman from Hawaii and the first Japanese American United States Senator. But unlike many other trailblazers, he was a calm and quiet man. I guess when you lose an arm in combat, very little else is going to rile you.

Not only are the members of Brokaw’s greatest generation dropping like flies, but the lions of the Senate are leaving us as well. If there is an after-life, I suspect Dan Inouye, Ted Kennedy, George McGovern, and Robert Byrd are swapping stories, counting votes, and lamenting what has become of their beloved Senate in the hands of pygmies like Mitch McConnell.

﻿﻿﻿During the 2002 debate over the Iraq war, Inouye made a rare Senate
floor speech – with no prepared remarks – in objection to President
Bush’s charge that Democrats weren’t concerned with national security.
The president had said that Senate Democrats’ failure to pass
legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security suggested they
were “more interested in special interests in Washington and not
interested in the security of the American people.”

“Certainly, I did not vote for him, but he is my president, and it
grieves me when my president makes statements that would divide this
nation,” Inouye said. “This is not a time for Democrats and Republicans
to say, ‘We got more medals than you, we’ve lost more limbs than you,
we’ve shed more blood than you.'”

“This is a time when we should be working together, debating this
issue,” he continued. “It is American to question the president. It is
American to debate this issue.”

Well, Jude, Michael, Adrastos, Scout, Southern Beale, et.al. did yeoman’s work Sunday scrubbing the scorch-marks and Freeper cranial matter off the walls and ceiling – I thank you all.

OK – after the shock wears off a little, the Freeperati start the finger-pointing and wrong-conclusion-jumping we’ve been seeing everywhere, but only in Freeperville will you see them unleash their inner Joker.

You’re just sore because he predicted your ass-whuppin’ down to the last State. And I daresay that you’re the one who’d be happier if he slit his wrists, since you have to watch Nate Silver bask in the aprobation he’s so justly receiving.

And what’s with you nimrods leaving out God’s middle letter all the time? Does this automaticaly get you into Heaven or something? Or is it like not saying Voldemort’s name out loud, or only saying “Candyman” four times? Do you think that He’ll be so miffed by your typing “God” instead of “G-d” that he’ll manifest himself and smite you?

To: over3Owithabrain

I really hope people stop obsessively trying to discredit polls.
They aren’t gospel, but in the last two elections they have been fairly
accurate, and if anything, slightly republican leaning.

Go back and
check the RCP final poll average for the 2010 Senate races – 20 of 23
correctly senate seats picked correctly. Of the the 3 that were
incorrect, 2 dems won instead of the predicted republican, and the last
was Murkowski beating Miller in Alaska. And obviously, polls were better
than GOP cheerleaders this time as well.

Spot on wardaddy. And we only 60% of the white vote. The answer
is not to kowtow to the Latino population and open borders and let the
country go socialist, but to more or less unify the white vote… well,
increase our white vote.

Myths: Ramussen is right, D+6 is delusional, sea of Romney lawn
signs, big R&R campaign rallies, Dick Morris, Michael Barone, [your
favorite state] is going Romney, incumbents can’t win with >7%
unemployment, the Bradley Effect, PA is winnable for the GOP, women like
white men, all those “left-leaning” polls are in the tank for Obama,
“fraud” won the election, John Roberts and Chris Christie are on our
side.

Reality: We are anachronistic outliers in a country we don’t
understand and that is going to leave us behind. This type of thing
happens every century in many countries since the dawn of time. The US
is never going back to what it used to be. Obama will guarantee it.
There is nowhere to run.

Obama is black, that is the shift, any white guy with the same
record would have been booted from office. He is a brother by another
mother, and despite horrible job numbers and a looming financial
disaaster for blacks and hispanics they will always back a brother.

Well, Jude, Michael, Adrastos, Scout, Southern Beale, et.al. did yeoman’s work Sunday scrubbing the scorch-marks and Freeper cranial matter off the walls and ceiling – I thank you all.

OK – after the shock wears off a little, the Freeperati start the finger-pointing and wrong-conclusion-jumping we’ve been seeing everywhere, but only in Freeperville will you see them unleash their inner Joker.

You’re just sore because he predicted your ass-whuppin’ down to the last State. And I daresay thatyou’re the one who’d be happier if he slit his wrists, since you have to watch Nate Silver bask in the aprobation he’s so justly receiving.

And what’s with you nimrods leaving out God’s middle letter all the time? Does this automatically get you into Heaven or something? Or is it like not saying Voldemort’s name out loud, or only saying “Candyman” four times? Do you think that He’ll be so miffed by your typing “God” instead of “G-d” that he’ll manifest himself and smite you?

To: over3Owithabrain

I really hope people stop obsessively trying to discredit polls.
They aren’t gospel, but in the last two elections they have been fairly
accurate, and if anything, slightly republican leaning.Go back and
check the RCP final poll average for the 2010 Senate races – 20 of 23
correctly senate seats picked correctly. Of the the 3 that were
incorrect, 2 dems won instead of the predicted republican, and the last
was Murkowski beating Miller in Alaska. And obviously, polls were better
than GOP cheerleaders this time as well.

The GOP got killed among Asian-Americans, who logically should be strong GOP supporters. The GOP is not even asking itself why.Can
somebody tell me why Asian-Americans vote for democRATS? You’re right,
Mr. Jeeves… logically they should be strong GOP supporters.

Spot on wardaddy. And we only 60% of the white vote. The answer
is not to kowtow to the Latino population and open borders and let the
country go socialist, but to more or less unify the white vote… well,
increase our white vote.

Myths: Ramussen is right, D+6 is delusional, sea of Romney lawn
signs, big R&R campaign rallies, Dick Morris, Michael Barone, [your
favorite state] is going Romney, incumbents can’t win with >7%
unemployment, the Bradley Effect, PA is winnable for the GOP, women like
white men, all those “left-leaning” polls are in the tank for Obama,
“fraud” won the election, John Roberts and Chris Christie are on our
side.

Reality: We are anachronistic outliers in a country we don’t
understand and that is going to leave us behind. This type of thing
happens every century in many countries since the dawn of time. The US
is never going back to what it used to be. Obama will guarantee it.
There is nowhere to run.

Obama is black, that is the shift, any white guy with the same
record would have been booted from office. He is a brother by another
mother, and despite horrible job numbers and a looming financial
disaaster for blacks and hispanics they will always back a brother.

No post today, as Barbara and I are on our annual pilgrimage to theIberostar Quetzal in Playa Del Carmen, where agouti, peacocks, howler monkeys, and smiling bartenders roam the gounds freely. It’s co-incides with our wedding anniversary, and these good people always make it special.

There will also be omelettes.

Here’s a cheesy home movie I made of last year’s trip for those fo you who would like to glimpse something besides Janurary weather – incudes Bonus Barbara Wave:

(Gregory) There’s this issue of”Governor Romney is a Mormon”, this has become an issue in the campaign, pastor Robery Jeffress introduced Rick Perry and said the following:

(clip runs)

(Jefferson) “So we want a candidate who s a good, moral person? Or do we want a candidate who is a born-again follower of the lord Jesus Christ? Mitt Romney is a good, moral person – but he is not a Christian. Mormonism is not Christianity, yet it’s always been considered historically to be a cult by evangelical Christians,”

(clip ends)

(Gregory) Has Governor Perry satisfactorily distanced himself from this pastor in Governor Romney’s mind?

(Pawlenty) Well, in my view, David, it’s disappointing that Governor Perry and others who didn’t denounce pastor Jeffress and those comments more directly, We have a country where we don’t have prohibitions on a particular church attendance for public office. In fact, it’s prohibited in theU.S. Constitution.

(Gregory) Governor Jindal, are you disappointed in Governor Perry? Have you told him he should more formally denounce…

(Jindal) I don’t think it’s for any of us to judge somebody else’s religious views, their relationship with God.The Bible is very clear, that’s up to God, not us. (…) It’s not for any of us to judge somebody’s faith, relationship to God, I think that would be inappropriate.The Bible is very clear, that’s not our role.

OK.

Pawlenty says that religious tests are against the Constitution, and Jindal saysthe answers are RIGHT THERE IN THE BIBLE!!!

“The Bob & Mark Show” broadcasts out of Anchorage, Alaska, with hosts Bob and Mark on KWHL.[Click here for a link to their site, where you can listen to the broadcast LIVE! ] In the final episode of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” on TLC — which Governor Palin herself produced and had complete creative control over — the Governor promised to let Bob and Mark know, on the air, when she decides to run for president. Since the Governor personally chose to have that bit included in the episode, there has to be a reason for this. “The Bob and Mark Show” broadcasts Monday through Friday.

I don’t buy it. If she were goingh to annonce, ashe’d certainly want to do so in a more splashy wat than on a dinky radio show. (No offense meant to the show.) but wouldn’t she at least pick Rusd Limbaugh’/s show, if not calling yogether a full media scrum of all the Network and cable news channels?

Do you really doubt if she were to call up all the news media, foreign and domestic, and say she was making a big announcement in 24 hrs at (X) place, that every single one of them wouldn’t have a news team there at the ready? Ahead of time, to get the best position they could?

It’s probably because we’re a center-right nation. I will note, however, that it’s just goddamn amazing how people start to like you when you stop listening to Chris Matthews’ racist uncles and start doing the things they tell you they want done.

Gallup’s latest national poll, conducted Jan. 4-6, finds 32% of Americans approving of the job Bush is doing as president and a mere 23% approving of the job Congress is doing. The previous figures were 32% and 22%, respectively.

More generally, Bush’s approval rating has bobbed between 31% and 34% for almost the entire period from May 2007 through today, averaging 33%.

President Bush’s approval rating in the Garden State is very low at 26% and the percent of voters saying that the country is on the wrong track increased from 67% to a new high of 71%. At the same time, the percent of voters who say the country is on the right track dipped to a new low of 18%. Similarly, the percent of voters saying that going into Iraq was the right thing dropped from 32% to 27%, erasing gains made last month in the wake of General Petraeus’ testimony before Congress.